Goodbye, Roberto!

Life is all about making decisions. Roberto González-Monjas has always shown a knack for making the right ones: when he came to Winterthur as concertmaster in 2013, when he began conducting, and also when he moved from the concertmaster’s chair to the conductor’s podium at the Musikkollegium six years ago. That is why we are certain that his latest decision is also the right one. Othmar Schoeck was somewhat less fortunate with his decisions – in his private life, in politics, and perhaps even musically. In 1945, a heart attack threw him off course, and his music was sidelined in the post-war modernist era. But the Muses are sometimes lenient with their favourites, and so it was precisely in that year that Schoeck achieved his greatest success to date with ‘Sommernacht’ (Summer Night), based on a poem by Gottfried Keller. A shimmering string arrangement that fits perfectly with the theme of Roberto González-Monjas’s final season with the Musikkollegium: ‘Pastorale’. Gustav Mahler was particularly inspired when selecting texts to set to music. From five poems by Friedrich Rückert – which were musical in their own right – Mahler created a masterpiece of the orchestral song. What a treat to hear these songs sung by the dark, noble, expressive voice of the magnificent André Schuen!
Whether Johannes Brahms had chosen against Clara Schumann or vice versa, the decision certainly seemed to bear fruit for his music. Had he stayed with Clara, he would not have had to send her ‘a thousand and one’ greetings on postcards from Switzerland. And then there would have been no marvellous alphorn call in his First Symphony (which he, in fact, noted on the postcard). Be that as it may: in hopeful C major, the orchestra strides towards the future in the symphony’s finale. With these sounds, we accompany Roberto Gonález-Monjas, as it were, to the city gates and call after him: ¡Hasta luego! ¡Ya nos veremos!